LRC Annual Student Survey 2012-2013
Written by: Mark Gallagher, Director of Learning Resources
CC: Kevin Gilmartin, Principal, Henka Dilly Vice Principal, Leadership Group,CAL’s,LRC Dept,
File, LRC website
Abstract
This year the LRC returned to using LimeSurvey as the survey tool. The return rates were the most disappointing to date, with only 94 responses (approx. 11.4% of the total student roll). This makes it extremely difficult to make even tentative correlations from the data.
Methodology
This year there were 14 questions in total intended to harvest a rich range of qualitative data about student perceptions of LRC services? This year due to the demands on the tutorial programme it was decided to ask tutors to ask students to do the survey in their own time, although not ideal there was according to the senior tutorial team simply not the time to have tutors complete the survey with their groups in the classroom. To ameliorate the possibility of low response rates the LRC offered a £25.00 Amazon voucher raffle to all those students who completed the survey in its entirety. This of course entailed collecting ID numbers, but anonymity was retained by extracting these to an Excel Spread sheet and removing the ID numbers from the individual Limesurvey. Other changes included a question about the sex of students and the use of Linkert scales for Q5. About satisfaction with a range of resources and services. For Q6.-Q8. the focus was on students satisfaction with Moodle Courses and tools as an aid to their study. Q13 was an addition that sought to elicit student’s suggestions for improvements to our information literacy and study skills support not only in the LRC but also via all departments.
Results
Q1. Are you 1. Male? 2. Female?
Q2. Which Year Group do you belong to?
2012-13
2011-12
Q3. How often do you visit the LRC in the main building?
2012-13
This year 57% of total respondents claimed to visit the LRC on a daily basis, an increase of 14.4% on 2011-12. For all cohorts 73% claimed to visit on either a daily or weekly basis a drop from last year of 14.7%. Again the bias inherent in the poor reponse rate means that it is very difficult to make any corralatins about this data, although anecdote suggests that give students adoption of Wi-Fi using their own devices some may find the canteen a more conducive study enviroment.
Q4. If you answered “Never” to Q2. why not?
The responses were irrelevant.
Q5. Do you find that the LRC meets yours needs for the following type of resources?
Field summary for Q5.(SQ001)Could you please rate the following resources that the LRC provides, with 1 being most useful and 5 not useful at all.
[Non fiction books to support your subjects]
Answer / Count / Percentage / Sum
1 (1) / 26 / 28.89% / 46.67%
2 (2) / 16 / 17.78%
3 (3) / 10 / 11.11% / 11.11%
4 (4) / 13 / 14.44%
5 (5) / 4 / 4.44% / 18.89%
Sum (Answers) / 69 / 100.00% / 100.00%
Number of cases / 73 / 100.00%
No answer / 4 / 4.26%
Not completed or Not displayed / 21 / 22.34%
Arithmetic mean / 2.32
Standard deviation / 1.31
Field summary for Q5.(SQ002)
Could you please rate the following resources that the LRC provides, with 1 being most useful and 5 not useful at all.
[Fiction books, reading for pleasure]
Answer / Count / Percentage / Sum
1 (1) / 17 / 19.32% / 37.50%
2 (2) / 16 / 18.18%
3 (3) / 9 / 10.23% / 10.23%
4 (4) / 12 / 13.64%
5 (5) / 13 / 14.77% / 28.41%
Sum (Answers) / 67 / 100.00% / 100.00%
Number of cases / 73 / 100.00%
No answer / 6 / 6.38%
Not completed or Not displayed / 21 / 22.34%
Arithmetic mean / 2.82
Standard deviation / 1.49
Field summary for Q5.(SQ003)
Could you please rate the following resources that the LRC provides, with 1 being most useful and 5 not useful at all.
[Journals and magazines in the LRC]
Answer / Count / Percentage / Sum
1 (1) / 21 / 25.30% / 42.17%
2 (2) / 14 / 16.87%
3 (3) / 10 / 12.05% / 12.05%
4 (4) / 12 / 14.46%
5 (5) / 5 / 6.02% / 20.48%
Sum (Answers) / 62 / 100.00% / 100.00%
Number of cases / 73 / 100.00%
No answer / 11 / 11.70%
Not completed or Not displayed / 21 / 22.34%
Arithmetic mean / 2.45
Standard deviation / 1.35
Field summary for Q5.(SQ004)
Could you please rate the following resources that the LRC provides, with 1 being most useful and 5 not useful at all.
[Athens databases, ProQuest News, Infotrac, Oxford Reference, Philip Allan Magazines Online etc.]
Answer / Count / Percentage / Sum
1 (1) / 20 / 23.53% / 43.53%
2 (2) / 17 / 20.00%
3 (3) / 14 / 16.47% / 16.47%
4 (4) / 8 / 9.41%
5 (5) / 5 / 5.88% / 15.29%
Sum (Answers) / 64 / 100.00% / 100.00%
Number of cases / 73 / 100.00%
No answer / 9 / 9.57%
Not completed or Not displayed / 21 / 22.34%
Arithmetic mean / 2.39
Standard deviation / 1.27
Field summary for Q5.(SQ005)
Could you please rate the following resources that the LRC provides, with 1 being most useful and 5 not useful at all.
[Moodle Research support courses]
Answer / Count / Percentage / Sum
1 (1) / 22 / 25.58% / 44.19%
2 (2) / 16 / 18.60%
3 (3) / 8 / 9.30% / 9.30%
4 (4) / 13 / 15.12%
5 (5) / 6 / 6.98% / 22.09%
Sum (Answers) / 65 / 100.00% / 100.00%
Number of cases / 73 / 100.00%
No answer / 8 / 8.51%
Not completed or Not displayed / 21 / 22.34%
Arithmetic mean / 2.46
Standard deviation / 1.38
Field summary for Q5.(SQ006)
Could you please rate the following resources that the LRC provides, with 1 being most useful and 5 not useful at all.
[The LRC website]
Answer / Count / Percentage / Sum
1 (1) / 16 / 18.82% / 30.59%
2 (2) / 10 / 11.76%
3 (3) / 20 / 23.53% / 23.53%
4 (4) / 12 / 14.12%
5 (5) / 6 / 7.06% / 21.18%
Sum (Answers) / 64 / 100.00% / 100.00%
Number of cases / 73 / 100.00%
No answer / 9 / 9.57%
Not completed or Not displayed / 21 / 22.34%
Arithmetic mean / 2.72
Standard deviation / 1.29
Field summary for Q5.(SQ007)
Could you please rate the following resources that the LRC provides, with 1 being most useful and 5 not useful at all.
[LRC PC's]
Answer / Count / Percentage / Sum
1 (1) / 25 / 27.17% / 48.91%
2 (2) / 20 / 21.74%
3 (3) / 5 / 5.43% / 5.43%
4 (4) / 8 / 8.70%
5 (5) / 13 / 14.13% / 22.83%
Sum (Answers) / 71 / 100.00% / 100.00%
Number of cases / 73 / 100.00%
No answer / 2 / 2.13%
Not completed or Not displayed / 21 / 22.34%
Arithmetic mean / 2.49
Standard deviation / 1.52
Field summary for Q5.(SQ008)
Could you please rate the following resources that the LRC provides, with 1 being most useful and 5 not useful at all.
[LRC Ipads]
Answer / Count / Percentage / Sum
1 (1) / 22 / 26.51% / 45.78%
2 (2) / 16 / 19.28%
3 (3) / 10 / 12.05% / 12.05%
4 (4) / 9 / 10.84%
5 (5) / 5 / 6.02% / 16.87%
Sum (Answers) / 62 / 100.00% / 100.00%
Number of cases / 73 / 100.00%
No answer / 11 / 11.70%
Not completed or Not displayed / 21 / 22.34%
Arithmetic mean / 2.34
Standard deviation / 1.32
Field summary for Q5.(SQ009)
Could you please rate the following resources that the LRC provides, with 1 being most useful and 5 not useful at all.
[Sixth Form WiFi]
Answer / Count / Percentage / Sum
1 (1) / 21 / 24.42% / 41.86%
2 (2) / 15 / 17.44%
3 (3) / 10 / 11.63% / 11.63%
4 (4) / 8 / 9.30%
5 (5) / 11 / 12.79% / 22.09%
Sum (Answers) / 65 / 100.00% / 100.00%
Number of cases / 73 / 100.00%
No answer / 8 / 8.51%
Not completed or Not displayed / 21 / 22.34%
Arithmetic mean / 2.58
Standard deviation / 1.48
Field summary for Q5.(SQ010)
Could you please rate the following resources that the LRC provides, with 1 being most useful and 5 not useful at all.
[LRC study places]
Answer / Count / Percentage / Sum
1 (1) / 30 / 32.97% / 48.35%
2 (2) / 14 / 15.38%
3 (3) / 5 / 5.49% / 5.49%
4 (4) / 10 / 10.99%
5 (5) / 11 / 12.09% / 23.08%
Sum (Answers) / 70 / 100.00% / 100.00%
Number of cases / 73 / 100.00%
No answer / 3 / 3.19%
Not completed or Not displayed / 21 / 22.34%
Arithmetic mean / 2.4
Standard deviation / 1.54
Non fiction books to support your subjects
For all students satisfaction with the non-fiction stock measures as 1,2,3 on the linkert scales was 57.78%, if we correlate this to last year satisfaction seems to have dropped by 25.5% although this does not factor in the 22.3% of all respondents who did not provide an answer to the question.
Fiction books, reading for pleasure
For all students 47.73% of students were satisfied with the fiction stock as measured at levels 1,2,3. If this is matched to last year’s results this is a drop of 8.87%. Again it should be minded that 28.72% of all respondents either did not attempt or complete the question.
Journals and magazines in the LRC
53.15% of respondents expressed satisfaction with the collection of journals and magazines measures at 1,2,3. This compares to 49.7% in 2010-11. The LRC has over the course of this year carefully examined the use of journals and discussed their use with teaching staff. As result we have subscribed to four new titles, for linguistics,
Athens databases, ProQuest News, Infotrac, Oxford Reference, Philip Allan Magazines
59.9% of respondents expressed their satisfaction with the range of databases made available via the OpenAthens authentication system. This compares to 55.7% last year. The LRC has continued to develop and expand the range of databases available to students purchasing access to Cengage Learning’s Science Reference Centre ad the full online archive of Philip Allan Review titles (aimed at A1, A2 students).
Moodle Research support courses
For all cohorts 59.00% expressed satisfaction with the Moodle research courses. This compares to 60.3% in 2010-11. Again, it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions given the inherent bias of the sample, it may be that as most of the research courses have so far been aimed at the EPQ and A2 students that this may explain not perhaps, lack of satisfaction but a lack of feelings of relevance.
The LRC website
This is a new question and was intended to measure students satisfaction with the WordPress site that the LRC has been developing over the course of the past academic year (see ). In total 54.11% of respondents were satisfied with the website measures as 1,2,3 on the linkert scales. As with the other questions there was a significant level of non-response with 31.9% of students not answering.
LRC PC's
The LRC as not altered its number of bookable desktop PCs over the past year ad retains a compliment of 32 plus a single quick print machine in the Entrance Hall. In total 48.21% of total respondents answered at levels 1,2. This compares to 93% according to comparable measures last year, a drop of 44.79%.
LRC Ipads
This is a new question. The LRC has, over the course of this academic year, made available, for information literacy lessons and for general student use, a set of 12 Ipads, pre-loaded with a range of educational and productivity enhancing apps. For all respondents 57.78% were expressed their satisfaction at 1,2,3.
Sixth Form Wi-Fi
This is the second academic year of the Sixth Form having Wi-Fi streaming in the LRC, main building and out into the courtyard. For all respondents 53.42% expressed satisfaction at levels 1,2,3 compared with 69% of all respondents year measured on a comparable scale.
LRC study places
With 62 non PC study spaces the LRC has not expanded its study seating capacity this year. In total 53.8% expressed their satisfaction with study space at 1,2,3 comparable to 92% last year. Again given the inherent bias of the survey it is difficult to draw meaningful correlations unless these are triangulated with other data sources. Discussions with staff and students indicate that there is, especially at breaks and lunch periods, as well as the busy periods prior to internal and public exams, there can be a very high demand for seating and occasionally we have had complaints about this.
Q6. How easy do you find Moodle to navigate and find what you are looking for?
This new question sought to elicit student’s perceptions about the navigability hospitality of Moodle. In total for all cohorts 57% found finding what they needed on Moodle either Easy or Very Easy. Only 1% of respondents found using Moodle to be very difficult. Again there was a high rate of non-completion with 22% not answering the question.
Q7. Do you use the Moodle LRC dropdown (see above) to access LRC resources?
This question sought to discover whether students were aware of the LRC dropdown with provides access to the catalogue, OpenAthens and the LRC website from the Moodle homepage. For all cohorts 48.94% of the students were aware of the dropdown with 20.21% having not used it and a negligible 2.13% unaware of its existence. Again there was a high rate of non-response at 28.72%
Q8. Do you feel Moodle courses are supporting your learning? Please explain.
This is a new question and was designed to solicit students’ opinions about the support that Moodle courses provides. Students provided a range of thoughtfully considered answers. Overwhelmingly students found that Moodle was a help in their studies. A category analysis is provided below.
Useful as a course planner
5
Useful for revision purposes
4
Useful for supporting those who have missed a lesson
1
Provides interaction with a range of information sources
12
Improves independent learning skills
2
See addenda 1 for the full text answers
Q9. How easy is it to find what you are looking for in the LRC? Think of the signage and displays.For all students 65% answered that it was either “easy” or “neutral” to navigate the LRC. This is a 30.6% drop on last years figure although again it must be minded that response rates were poor and that 32% of students either did not attempt or complete the question.
Q10. What do you think of the study atmosphere in the LRC?
This year for all students 67% answered that the study atmosphere was either Good or Reasonable a drop of 31% on last year. Although only 4% thought that the LRC had a poor study atmosphere.
Q11 If you answered “poor study atmosphere” can you explain why this might be the case how we could improve the situation?
ResponsesSometimes some groups are loud
So much noise from students.
Well one reason is the computer and the site were you study are close and also there is a person telling you to be silent so we should have three places silent study atmosphere, discussion and work site and a computer site
LRC
The area seems quite cramped and the colour of the walls (the pink) is quite off putting.
didn't answer poor but no food allowed no space to stretch legs, I’m tall wall look plain, more diagrams, posters, pictures would help nevertheless reasonable as it is now
Very compact and small which has led to high level of noise
Q12 What do you think of the LRC support to develop your research skills?
This question sough to elicit students o0pinions about the variety of ways that the LRC team support the acquisition of research and information literacy skills, whether it be through lessons, small group interactions or one to one refrence interviews. For all students 47% thought that this support was either Very useful or Useful. This compares to 80.5% of respondents last year, a drop of 32.5%. Again the low response rate and 27% of students not completing the question makes any meaningful attempt at correlation very difficult. The fact that any 1% of respondents thought that the support was Unhelpful could suggest that there is little meaningful dissatisfaction with the LRC level of support, although again drawing any significance from the data is very difficult.
Q13. Research skills involve finding information, critically evaluating others ideas and work and creating your own arguments or product. How could the school improve its support to you in developing these skills?
Students again gave some thoughtful response to this question. In particular students appreciated the benefits of information literacy instruction.
Provide workshops or lessons in developing information literacy and wider research skills
6
Improved advertising about LRC support
8
Develop research skills courses
2
Provide a designated study skills teacher
1
Develop a debate club
2
Employ additional library staff to assist students
1
Improve the range of stock
1
Provide additional Moodle research skills courses
1
See addenda 2 for the full text answers.
Q14. Do you have any comments or suggestions for the LRC?
Field summary for Q14.Do you have any other comments or suggestions for the LRC?
Count / Percentage
Answer / 43 / 45.74%
No answer / 23 / 24.47%
Not completed or Not displayed / 28 / 29.79%
Responses
i normally spend time reading in the LRC, so I’d suggest that you bring in more current fiction novels for people to borrow/read
nope
its lovely, although the librarians could stop telling those students who are quietly discussing work to be quiet.
A drop box for students to write any books or other materials which they would like to use or take out in the future.
Get more computers, there are never any free!
More computers, ipad is useless
The LRC is really helpful and the staff is good as they help almost immediately and most definitely give us a good end result.
The LRC is a very helpful area in developing knowledge and the staff are very kind and always available.
Sometimes it is hard to study in the LRC if you're studying with a partner, because you can't discuss what you're studying.
sometimes I enter the LRC and there is no where to work i think it should be allowed that we have more space and more computers and ipads to help us revise and finish course work
Longer opening hours will be better. And also allowed to be on the computer for longer than 3 hours.
Staff are always nice and helpful
They could include more novels such as new ones so the students could anticipate reading them.
It is a good LRC
LRC
More recent books and journals if possible. Also if possible more computers and pcs available for access to students due to the high demand for technology in the modern era we live in today. Finally students having the option of being able to borrow more books than the current limit.
LRC
LRC
-More comments on the books (like a top 10 school favourites or reviews) -More thesaurus' (I couldn't find a big one last time I checked!) -More emphasis on the iPads so that people go to them rather than the computers -Easier Wi-Fi?
i think the LRC is a great place to be when having to study somewhere silent. also the books are very useful but I think that the LRC should buy some books (new books)that student would recommend.
marks funny
Change the wall colour to a neutral positive colour.
Definitely need more computers
I have suggestion to you is have support for people learningdifficulties in the LRC and no noise free area. in general it is good and helpful.
provide more computers and try to get rid of the back room with the useless books . change it to a bigger computer room because now days students hardly read and I’m sure computers are available, like one computer from each ICT room maybe.
I like it
none
To create more space
No
No.
I use the LRC at least 3 hours a day to study and revise and do all my work for my chosen subjects at this college. The only criticism I could give is it is a little bit small and sometimes there are not enough spaces to study or computers to do my work with.
More versions of older books less books on one day loans but 2 weeks currently I want a particular chemistry book to study from at home as I love it breaks down everything I learnt clearly so I understand it, however its only on one day and no available copies for a 2 week loan which would be more convenient as renewing it everyday is a pain.
bigger study area, the ratio of size of library to number of students in the college is clearly not working out too well
No.
No, I think it works fairly well, except of the occasional problems with double-booked LRC suites.
No.
No.
lrc is a great place to study my only suggestion would be to maybe refurbish the study area with new windows and new chairs because they are a little old which can make them unappealing to some students
More space and PCs I wish one of the LRC staff pull a smile more study areas where we can discuss our topics with class mates improve Athens, very slow and updated newspapers Motivational pictures put up on the walls to motivate students (Mohammed Ali)
None, its a wonderful place and i don't think it needs any more improving.
most of the time to find PC is hard, always someone use them. Solution, WMSF should invest in more PC or laptops where student can use them if the PC are overtaken.
yes indeed, one suggestion that would help improve our sixth forms LRC would be more PC's for the students, as we currently lack in that department; coming from personal experience you do not find enough PC's which prevents the students such as myself from doing coursework. i feel that this is a major problem that the school should deal with as soon as possible. Thank you for taking my suggestions in to account.
more freedom for students and more resources like pcs, study spaces, more tables available to use and access Mark.
Conclusions and recommendations